The broad objective of the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) Program at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center (UCDHSC) is to develop and increase the pool of highly-qualified young scientists and clinician-investigators pursuing independent interdisciplinary scientific careers in women's health. The BIRCWH grant at UCDHSC focuses on three interrelated areas affecting women's health across the life span from preconception to aging! These areas are: (1) Pregnancy, fetal programming, and lactation, (2) Aging, cardiovascular (CV) disease, diabetes and obesity and (3) Women's cancers. These are fields in which the UCDHSC has strong interdisciplinary research programs, extending from molecular research into the basic mechanisms of disease through clinical studies to epidemiological analyses of etiology and outcomes. The key elements of our program are commitments to (a) recruitment of BIRCWH Scholars with diverse ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds (b) strong mentoring by experienced mentors with whom young investigators will be paired; (c) creation of broad, collaborative, interdisciplinary research partnerships that will provide appropriate individual advisory committees for BIRCWH Scholars; (d) development and utilization of a Program Advisory Committee (PAC) comprised of nationally and internationally distinguished scientists; (e) addition of a new shared Resource Laboratory to provide cores in areas not currently available to BIRCWH Scholars; (f) access to the rich base of research resources including coursework (both required and elective) as well as the substantial core facilities present at UCDHSC; and (g) extremely strong institutional support (both intellectual and financial) for the proposed program. The UCDHSC BIRCWH Program will play a leading role in the development of a successful cadre of strong, independent investigators whose goal through their research, is to improve the health of women.